Dude, Where's My Radar?

It's a dreary day. Cold, wet -- and snowing for the third time in as many days. Still, I'm feeling pretty chipper after reading a little something sent my way by Will Collier. Read and enjoy:

Iran's sole Simorgh AWACS aircraft was lost during a military parade Sept. 22, one of two Iranian military aircraft that crashed in Tehran while participating in a display to mark the anniversary of the start of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War.

The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force operated a single Simorgh, a former Iraqi Air Force Adnan. The Adnan AWACS was in turn a modification of a Soviet-built Ilyushin Il-76 transport.

The Simorgh collided with one of the Air Force's Northrop F-5E Tiger II fighters over the area of the Imam Khomeyni Shrine, southern Tehran. According to eyewitnesses, the crash occurred immediately after the parade. Apparently, no mayday call was issued.

Eye witnesses reported that the flaming planes landed on the mausoleum burial site of the Islamic revolution's founder Ruhollah Khomeini, a national shrine. According to Western observers, no distress signals came from either cockpit indicating that the collision and explosions were sudden and fast.

OK, that last bit comes from DEBKA, so who knows if it's true. But the idea of Iran losing its only AWACS in an accident that defiled the tomb of the Ayatollah Khomeini? That's just so... nifty. Makes you wonder if the Joooooooos! were behind it.